Chasing Away the Nightmares
by quentintaranfeeto
Summary: After becoming human again, Alex becomes plagued by nightmares. Lucky for her, Hal is there to chase them away. My first Being Human fanfiction, written for my best friend as a present type thing. Rating is just me playing on the safe side.


This is dedicated to my best friend, Megan. It was actually written for her as a birthday present type thing. Anyway, read and review or just read, whatever you decide to do is fine with me.

This takes place after the series finale, and in this they are most definitely not trapped in a reality created by the Devil. I don't own Being Human or it's characters, as much as I may wish I did.

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Even after their short conversation in the kitchen, it took Hal and Alex a while to get together officially. They were both aware of their feelings for each other, but were too scared to act on them. Hal would always remember that, even though she was alright now, he was the reason she had died. He had drank her blood. The memory of that would make Hal so upset and so sick to his stomach that he would wind up dropping to the floor and doing pressups until he forgot what it was he had been thinking of. If that didn't work, he would put up and then take down his dominoes. It always worked, one way or another.

Alex wasn't scared of being in a relationship with Hal. He was human now. All of the vampires were human now; the ghosts and the werewolves, too. Being with him wasn't dangerous. What Alex was scared of was making the first move. She and Hal had become friends, great friends even, and should she come on too strong, it could ruin that. She knew he liked her, she did, but he was Hal, and Hal wasn't exactly the greatest at understanding and acting on his emotions.

Tom was over at Allison's helping her pack up when it happened. Given their recent reversion to humanity, Tom deemed it was only appropriate that Allison move in with them. Hal, of course, was worried about the complications that would arise from her moving in, but he knew just what it meant to Tom to have Allison with him, so he didn't voice them. Alex was ecstatic to have another girl living in the house, which also partially factored into Hal's not talking to Tom about his decision. He wanted Alex to be happy, she deserved to be happy more than most other people did.

This marked the first occasion they had had the house to themselves since defeating the Devil. Nervousness festered in both of their stomachs. Hal didn't understand the feeling. He hadn't the faintest idea what there was for him to be nervous about. Alex, on the other hand, knew exactly what - no, who - to attribute these feelings to.

After that very, very short instance in the kitchen when Hal implied a longing for something more than friendship with Alex, the possibility of a relationship between the two was never uttered by either again. That had been weeks ago.

Alex sat curled up in front of the television, her hands wrapped around a cup of tea. She had yet to go shopping for new clothes, and since she had decided it best for her family to consider her dead, she didn't have any of her old belongings. Hal had found it unladylike for her to wear Tom's clothes, so he reluctantly allowed her to wear some of his own, but only on the condition that she would let him take her shopping. That had yet to occur.

It was early in the morning, and Alex was convinced she was the only person awake. Ever since she had gained her humanity, she'd had trouble sleeping. When she was able to fall asleep, she had nightmares - awful ones. She would dream of how she died, and even more often, she would dream of the men with sticks and ropes. Alex would wake up two or three hours after having gone to bed, a scream stuck in her throat and a sheen of sweat covering her from head to toe.

She'd had one of those nights, and had been downstairs fully dressed since three o'clock that morning. Television was crap at that hour, but it was loads better than what the world of her dreams had to offer. Alex was alerted to Hal's state of consciousness by the sounds beginning to transpire upstairs. Apparently, she wasn't the only one who woke up at the crack of dawn. The steady thumping of something hitting the floor told Alex that Hal was doing pressups, and it was likely he would be doing them for a while.

True to form, Hal proceeded to do pressups for what felt like forever to Alex. She could barely hear the television over his workout regimen. When he finally finished, she let out a sigh of relief and relished in the feeling of being about to focus on what was on the telly.

Hal came downstairs shortly after his pressups. He had showered and dressed after his pressups. "Oh, Alex. Good morning," he greeted with a cheery smile. Alex glared at him in response. "How are you so bloody happy in the morning?" she asked, her voice giving away her grogginess. He didn't have dark circles under his eyes as Alex did, and how he managed a smile before a cup of coffee was beyond her. "I suppose I'm just a morning person," Hal answered with a shrug.

Alex stood from her seat, one of the many blankets serving as decoration in the sitting room draped around her shoulders. She followed Hal into the kitchen. "Have you eaten yet?" he asked, already taking out the making for pancakes. She shook her head in response. "Of course not," Hal muttered under his breath. He tried to make conversation with Alex, but she was too tired to keep up with him.

"Have you been sleeping well?" Hal asked her once they both had a plate with a short stack of pancakes in front of them. Alex sighed, then chose to shake her head rather than lie or ignore the answer. Her response was immediately confirmed by the yawn that escaped her lips. "I've been having nightmares," she admitted reluctantly. It was the first that she'd spoken of it. "About?" Hal inquired, his brow furrowed in worry. "Some of them about dying," she started. The answer made Hal's heart ache; he'd worried she'd say it was that. "They're mostly about the men with sticks and ropes, though," Alex continued.

Hal sighed. "You should've told someone," he breathed out. They spent the remainder of their time in the kitchen in silence. Hal disappeared upstairs after breakfast, leaving Alex alone in front of the television again. He was only gone a few minutes when he came back down. "Alright, come with me," he commanded. She stared at him for a few moments before complying. "Where are we going?" she asked, dropping the blanket onto the chair. Hal helped her into her jacket. "You'll see," he answered with a grin.

Alex scoffed when they reached their destination. "Hal, you really think shopping is going to help me?" she sneered. Hal let out a single, bitter chuckle. "Do I look like an idiot to you, Alex? No, we're not going shopping. You're far too tired, and we haven't got nearly enough time for that sort of thing. We'll save that for another day. There's a store in this area where I'd like to purchase something to help you."

She followed him into a small store. The walls were covered in knickknacks, all of them beautiful and interesting. Hal saw what he was looking for immediately and grabbed one, walking to the register to pay for it. He hid the object he had from her line of vision. "You know, Hal, if you want to surprise me with what you're getting me, you could have just left me home," she chastised. Hal didn't respond. He hadn't even thought about leaving Alex alone at the house. It wasn't an option to him. Now that she was human again, she was vulnerable. Anything could happen if he just left her there, defenseless. "I suppose I wasn't thinking," Hal answered, hiding his motives from her.

They were home soon after, the trip wearing Alex out. They had only walked a few blocks, but after weeks of little to no sleep, it may as well have been miles. She made herself comfortable in front of the television again, wrapping the same blanket she'd donned earlier around herself. Hal sat down beside her on the couch. He cleared his throat. "I have a present for you," he declared. "I know," Alex responded. "I was there when you purchased it." Hal sighed and handed the gift to Alex.

The item was small, but beautiful. "A dreamcatcher?" she asked, her lips turned up into a soft smile. Hal nodded, smiling as well, pleased with her reaction to it. The frame was a dark polished wood, with thin white string webbing across it in an intricate pattern. White feathers with brown stripes at the tips flecked with brown spots dangled from the bottom of it. "It's beautiful," she commented. "I couldn't bear the thought of you being haunted by nightmares," Hal confessed to her. "I want you to feel happy and safe when you sleep, Alex, because you mean a lot to me."

"How much?" she asked, breaking her rule of not pressing Hal into discussing how he may or may not feel about her. "Very much," he responded immediately, his face moving closer to hers. There was a gleam in his eyes, one Alex hadn't seen since before he was a human again. "Oh my god, are those your sexy eyes?" she asked. "Shut up," Hal whispered in response, closing the distance between the two of them and kissing her in an almost desperate manner.

His eyes had reverted back to normal when he pulled away, wide with curiosity and worry. "Was that... was that not appropriate?" he asked. Alex laughed until her sides hurt. When her laughter finally ceased, she reached over to take one of Hal's hands in both of her own. "I don't know how you manage to have such a contradictory personality, I really don't, but what I do know if that you mean a lot to me, too, and your kisses will always be appropriate," she replied, being so bold as to lean in and give him another short peck on the lips.

When Tom returned that evening with Allison and her belongings, Hal and Alex were cuddled together on the sofa, paying more attention to one another than to what was on the telly. They cheered when they heard the news. "We were always rooting for you crazy kids to get together," Allison commented. Tom grinned and wrapped his arm around Allison's shoulder, nodding in agreement.

Alex hung the dreamcatcher over her bed last night, and although she believed it would be able to chase away her nightmares, she wasn't able to fall asleep. After an hour of laying wide awake in her bed, she snatched the dreamcatcher from off her wall and shuffled nervously to Hal's room. She stood outside his door for a good while, wondering if he would consider her approaching him in his bed inappropriate and turn her away. She decided to take her chances and lightly rapped on the door. When there was no answer, Alex opened the door and entered the room anyway.

Hal was asleep, his back facing the door, and Alex almost considered leaving and letting him be. However, the promise of sleep was too good to pass up, and she tiptoed over to the bed and tapped Hal on the shoulder. He turned over, his eyes opening ever so slightly. "Alex?" he asked groggily, his eyes opening wider as he sat up. "Are you okay?" he questioned, his voice becoming edged with worry. "I'm fine, I just can't fall asleep," she responded, glancing down at her feet. "Would it be okay if I slept in here?" she asked. Hal responded by moving over and patting the bed next to him.

Alex set the dreamcatcher on the table beside the bed and slid in next to Hal, covering herself with the blanket and curling into his side. He wrapped his arms around her and fell asleep again almost instantly. "Goodnight," Alex whispered to the already sleeping man beside her. She drifted off beside him.

The next morning, Alex woke up to the sound of Hal doing pressups. When she sat up, he looked at her guiltily. "I'm sorry, did I wake you?" he asked. Alex smiled and shook her head. "The dreamcatcher kept away my nightmares," she said. Alex didn't truly believe that, though. She believed it was Hal's presence that scared away the bad dreams. Hal sauntered over to Alex and kissed her, then took her hand and lead her downstairs to the kitchen for breakfast. She never slept without Hal by her side again.


End file.
